stuck with stand alone words??

[moris]

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am taking a course in Chinese and we were given many (to many!) words to find out how they are written in simplified Chinese. I am having a tough time with a few of those words. If you have a moment and I would appreciate your help.

These words are supposed to be words that if I were to look at an ad in a shop, or look for it on the web I would use these words. And I think they are supposed to be stand alone words. I apologize for all the western terms, pizza, coffee etc. but this is a westerner who is teaching this.

Coffee - 咖啡, or 咖啡店 café shop.

Pizza - 比萨饼

Online - 在线 , 网上 ,or在线式 – if I were to watch movies online, or play game online. Which online is correct and is it a stand alone word?

Free –免费if I were to look for free games is this word correct for free? Is it a stand alone acceptable word?

Many thanks in advance.

Kind regards,

Moris

[Gnome]

I'm not 100% sure about online, I thing: 网上 is correct. I've heard it used before when describing content on the internet.

Also for coffee shop there is also: 咖啡馆

[Daan]

Yes, I think 网上 would be the word of choice. You got the right translations for pizza and coffee (at least on the mainland). Good luck with your studies and see you more often, hopefully!

[Zichao]

I've only ever seen/heard 比萨 alone (ie. without the 饼). I admit I've not been checking specially, though.

[Daan]

I'm sure I've also heard it with 饼 appended, but that difference might be easily explained by its being a loan word

[analgesia]

Pizza - 比萨or比萨饼 both ok ,but most usually in daily conversation,they just use 比萨 but without饼 after it.so,just 比萨 is the admited oral expression

online 在线 adj often

e.g 在线电影 adj+noun

在线游戏、

在线聊天...

and also they merely added 式 after it,though it is in fact a full expression ,no one use it

Free, 免费，sometimes plus 的，butstill,it can be a stand alone acceptable word

e.g the food we offer re free

我们提供的食物是免费的

Do i have to pay for this?

nope,free

不，免费。

[animal world]

For coffee shop there's also 咖啡厅. I believe 咖啡厅 and 咖啡馆 are more common than 咖啡店. Someone will correct me if i'm wrong. As far as i know, both 在线 and 网上 are okay for online. Haven't heard of 在线式; don't know whether it's used or not. 免费 is okay.

[leeyah]

比萨饼 is quite common

for video: 在线视听 zài xiàn shì tīng = watch(&listen) online

for audio: 在线试听 zài xiàn shì tīng = listen online

for games: 在线游戏 zài xiàn yóu xì = play online

[moris]

Hi All,

Thank you very, very much for all your responses. I have no words to express my thanks to you. This is a great forum.

If possible, I would like to ask 2 questions:

How does one know when one word comes before the other?

For instance in English one says “free download” and not “”download free”. Is it the same in Chinese?

Meaning that 下载免费 is incorrect but 免费下载 is the correct way to spell this??

Secondly, what does 在线观看 mean ??

Many thanks,

Moris

[chrix]

Hi Moris,

word order is determined by the syntactic rules of a language, and each language is different. In the specific example you cite Chinese and English happen to have similar rules, but this doesn't mean it's true all the time. I think you don't need to worry too much about this, you will learn the rules one by one as you progress in your studies.

Best of luck

Chrix

[trien27]

Coffee - 咖啡, or 咖啡店 café shop. There's no "café shop". café is a place where you can get coffee, which is the same as "coffee shop". café = from French via Italian which ultimately goes back to Greek. 咖啡店 is ok for translation from English directly into Chinese. 咖啡厅 is a large area, like a cafeteria, which is also a Greek word. 咖啡馆 might be a part of a restaurant where coffee might be served. 室 is a "room" as in "classroom" or such, so 咖啡室 might be a small area or kiosk where coffee can be served, etc...?

Pizza - 比萨饼: 比萨 = "Pizza"; 比萨饼 = Pizza pie

Online - 在线 [literally, "On the line"] , 网上 [literally, "above the net": net here = Internet] ,or 在线式 [might mean "online version" or online "demo" version] – if I were to watch movies online, or play game online. Which online is correct and is it a stand alone word?

Free –免费if I were to look for free games is this word correct for free? Is it a stand alone acceptable word? 免费 = free of charge, or doesn't cost money to obtain.

Meaning that 下载免费 is incorrect but 免费下载 is the correct way to spell this?? English & Chinese are two different languages, and when translating sometimes it's incorrect to translate directly as is the same order as L1. Sometimes you'd have to switch the word order of L1 to get the correct translation of L2.

Secondly, what does 在线观看 mean ?? 在线 = online; 观 = to view ; 看 = to watch 在线观看 = "To watch online."

Edited November 3, 2009 at 03:20 AM by trien27
Additional information

[moris]

thanks for your answer. Just to see that I understood.

下载免费 is incorrect but 免费下载 is the correct one

is 在线观看 used as a routine word?